The invention described herein may be manufactured, used and licensed by or for the U.S. Government.
The present invention is generally related to a packaging system, and more particularly to packaging system for products having two or more active ingredients or components that must be mixed together before use.
Some products such as household cleaners, dentifrices, adhesives, and the like, are composed of more than one active ingredient that must be mixed together only upon use. Such products generally require special handling and preparation. The active ingredients typically must be stored separately since the product formed from the mixing of the ingredients may be too unstable or short-lived to be properly stored over an extended period of time. The ingredients usually must be mixed in proper amounts prior to use. Accordingly, the storage and preparation of such products can be inconvenient and difficult.
Containers having multiple compartments for holding the active ingredients components have been used, and are known for years. These containers provide better storage features by holding the active components individually and separated from one another in a single package. Typically, the compartments of the container are arranged in a side-by-side configuration. The container may include single or multiple openings for dispensing the active components therefrom. A common household cleaner, which comprises two main active ingredients: bleach and hydrogen peroxide is packaged in such containers. The two active ingredients are especially reactive with one another, and need to be packaged separately. Hence, the bleach is stored in one compartment of the container and the hydrogen peroxide is stored in the other compartment. To formulate the household cleaner, the user dispenses the active components into a container where they are thoroughly mixed to produce the household cleaner product.
Although the containers described above provide better storage convenience, they provide little improvement in the preparation of the product from the mixing of active components. This is particularly important where the product must be formulated with differing ratio amounts of the active components, and/or where the product must be thoroughly mixed or blended in a separate container prior to use. Moreover, such prior art containers often fail to provide satisfactory results where the product must be prepared in a quick and rapid manner.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a packaging system for a product having two or more active components or ingredients that are packaged into a single compact unit. There is a further need to provide a packaging system for a product having two or more active components that is especially well suited for facilitating the preparation and dispensing of the packaged product in an easy and rapid manner immediately before use. There is also a need to provide a packaging system for a product having two or more active components that provide substantial reduction in costs and mitigation of problems typically associated with the packaging, shipping and storage of such products. It would be especially desirable to provide a packaging system for a product having two or more active components, which can be used to conveniently facilitate mixing of the active components in specific preset ratio amounts upon actuation by the user, and thus avoid the need to measure the components or use a separate mixing container for better convenience and consistency in product quality.
The present invention is directed to packaging of a product having two or more active components or ingredients, which must be mixed together shortly before use. The packaging of the present invention generally comprises a container having at least two compartments, and an opening in communication with at least one of the at least two compartments, and a common wall or septum separating the at least two compartments from one another. The packaging of the present invention further includes a rupture mechanism operatively including the common wall or septum, and adapted to be actuated by the user to cause the common wall to rupture for permitting the contents of each of the compartments to intermingle and mix with one another in the resulting conjoined compartments.
In one particular aspect of the present invention, there is provided a packaging system which comprises:
a container including at least two compartments, and at least one opening in communication with at least one of the at least two compartments;
a common wall separating each of the at least two compartments, the common wall being adapted for rupturing to enable the contents of each of the at least two compartments to mix in a volume formed from the resulting conjoined compartments within the container; and
a rupture mechanism operatively engaged with the common wall and actuable by a user, the rupture mechanism being adapted for rupturing the common wall upon actuation by the user.